Fox News pundit and former GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, who spent his time in Congress doing the handiwork of the pro-gun National Rifle Association, is making excuses yet again for a gun-obsessed society following the Wednesday mass shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

According to officials, two children were killed and 17 others were injured during the shooting at the Church of the Annunciation. The children were celebrating Mass while attending the first week back to school, which is located within the church.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that the shooter, who also died, was armed with three weapons, which were all fired during the attack.

Meanwhile on Fox News, where hosts and pundits have an extensive history of defending guns following mass shootings, Gowdy rushed to provide cover for U.S. gun culture.

“The only thing that can give us any modicum of peace at all, is those two children are with the person who loved them the very most, the person who created them, that being Jesus. That is the only thing that can possibly give parents in the future any modicum of peace,” he said.

Of course, what could give parents peace in a more tangible way beyond their religious faith would be the passage of gun safety legislation that limits the ability to execute shootings, suicide, and other forms of gun violence. In fact, gun laws are popular in the United States and have been successful in a host of nations around the world.

But they’re opposed by the NRA and the politicians who do its dirty work—people like Gowdy.

Gowdy had a 93% approval rating from the NRA in 2017 ahead of his departure from Congress in early 2019. That high rating means that the NRA saw Gowdy as a reliable ally in opposing gun safety legislation and directed thousands of dollars to campaigns to keep him in office.

In contrast, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the mindset embodied by Gowdy and other Republicans, who love to express their “thoughts and prayers” after mass shootings but still reject legislative action.

“And don’t just say that this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church,” he said.

Frey added that children should be free to go to school or church “without the risk of violence” and that parents “should have the same kind of assurance.”

Adding fuel to the fire lit by Gowdy, Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy—who is married to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy—argued that the “two things” pertinent to the shooting are medications used by children and antidepressants.

“I hope Bobby Kennedy looks into that,” she said.

This ignorance is standard operating procedure for Fox, which has spent decades using its influence to redirect public anger over gun violence to protect gun manufacturers and organizations like the NRA.

The right loves to invoke “thoughts and prayers” and every excuse under the sun—including doors—in the wake of mass shootings. The rhetoric and its disconnection to reality shows the extent to which the entirety of the conservative movement, represented by the Republican Party and leaders like Trump, operates as a limp appendage of the NRA and the affiliated pro-gun lobby.

So far in 2025, there have been at least 286 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The data shows that 157 children aged 11 and under have been killed by gun violence. That number balloons to 675 for children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Thoughts and prayers might provide emotional comfort to some, but they don’t do a damn thing to stop the carnage.